Rains delay India’s wheat harvest, postpone procurement

Wheat procurement by the Meals Company of India (FCI) is but to begin because of low arrival of the crop out there following latest rains which delayed the harvest. Now that Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan each have declared bonus over and above the MSP, the focus of merchants and stockists will transfer to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to get the grain across the benchmark worth if not much less.

Solely Uttar Pradesh had agreed to begin procurement from March 1 whereas Rajasthan had agreed to start from March 10 and no crop has been procured, up to now, commerce sources stated. Although, the Madhya Pradesh authorities had earlier knowledgeable that the procurement may start from March 22, there could be an early begin from March 15 as arrivals have began, the sources stated.

Procurement goal 33.4 mt?

Although the Centre has stated it plans to purchase 30-32 million tonnes (mt) of wheat within the procurement season beginning April 1 by beginning the acquisition a month earlier, latest rains have delayed the arrival and now in many of the states the momentum of arrival will choose up from April first week, merchants and millers stated. Nevertheless, in Rajasthan, the wheat arrival to achieve tempo after March 25, the sources stated.

It’s learnt that the procurement goal could also be mounted round 33.4 mt as States had knowledgeable that they may collectively contribute 36.7 mt of wheat to the Central Pool in 2024-25. The Agriculture Ministry has pegged this 12 months’s wheat manufacturing at file 112.03 mt, out of which Uttar Pradesh is to supply 35.48 mt, Madhya Pradesh 23.48 mt, Punjab 16.13 mt, Haryana 11.21 mt, Rajasthan 10.42 mt and Bihar 6.33 mt. The harvest is anticipated to say no from final 12 months solely in Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra, whereas different States amongst main growers might report larger manufacturing.

In 2023-24 season, the federal government had procured 26.2 mt of wheat out of the targetted 34.15 mt and in 2022-23 solely 18.8 mt was purchased for the Central Pool towards the goal of 44.4 mt.

Greater than MSP

Amid depleting inventory of wheat in Central Pool after launch of 10 mt in open market by weekly public sale at subsidised charges, the present 12 months’s procurement could be very essential for the federal government. Although it’s assured to purchase greater than the annual requirement of 18.4-19 mt, larger shares will assist it include market costs.

At the moment, wheat costs are ₹80-150/quintal larger than the MSP of ₹2,275 after each M.P. and Rajasthan introduced a bonus of ₹125/quintal. In M.P., even the typical high quality crop with 16 per cent moisture degree is promoting at ₹2,350 and if Uttar Pradesh declares the same bonus, the merchants and stockists must provide greater than ₹2,400/quintal to purchase any grain, stated a flour miller.

In line with official knowledge, the Centre has 9.69 mt of wheat as of March 1, which is the bottom since 2017, when the inventory dropped to 9.43 mt (as of March 1) from 16.87 mt in the identical interval in 2016. The buffer norm of wheat as on April 1 is 7.46 mt towards which the inventory with FCI was at 5.8 mt in 2008. After that it was marginally larger than buffer norm, at 8.06 mt in 2017 and eight.35 mt in 2023.